Daniel Torday is the author of the novel The Last Flight of Poxl West, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and an International Dublin Literary Award nominee. Torday's work has appeared in The New York Times, NPR, The Paris Review Daily and Tin House, and has been honored in both the Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays series. A two-time National Jewish Book Awardee and winner the 2017 Sami Rohr Choice Prize, he is Director of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College. His second novel, Boomer1, is out now from St. Martin's Press.

PRAISE FOR BOOMER1

“A contemporary satire with Shakespearean echoes… Torday reveals the artificiality of all identity markers, from given names to generational monikers…. The hybridization of past and present permeates the novel, complicating any division between ‘us’ and ‘them’.”

— The New York Times Book Review

“Intergenerational warfare, sparked by the unforgiving economics of the new millennium, is a great premise for a novel. With “Boomer1” Daniel Torday is clearly enjoying himself…. “Boomer1” is a sharp, bright and often amusing snapshot of this unwieldy economic moment.”

—The Wall Street Journal

“A thoughtful, taut, and engaging commentary on how social media can escalate personal angst into a terrorist act that turns deadly... Boomer1's knowing take on identity politics and generational turmoil will make many people smile. The novel is artfully written and well worth reading." —Philadelphia Inquirer

"A hilarious story about generational conflict brought to a boiling point... Torday’s wry examination of those attempting to survive in postrecession America is particularly poignant."-- PW

"A sharp, funny take on the divide between baby boomers and millennials." --Entertainment Weekly

"Torday has his finger on the pulse of American society in the 21st century, and he smartly suggests that when it comes to relationships between the generations, the patient may not be in the best of health."

--Shelf Awareness

“A brilliant novel about a new lost generation...Torday’s writing is funny and insightful." —Lincoln Journal-Star

Torday has some of the witty, neoteric, alternative-now chops of Don DeLillo...[his] narrative moves like a Clapton solo, fast and sinuous and haunting. And his black-humor story unfolds as naturally as a rainstorm. This alternative-now is both funny and harrowing, and Torday has one hand on the pulse of contemporary life and one hand throwing up a peace sign.” —The Memphis Flyer

"Dialogue is stellar, and humor dances through everything like a countermelody… In the end, Boomer1 isn’t about Baby Boomers and Millennials. It's about people trying to discover themselves, even if that means starting a revolution. Because we can always put on a mask and change our name, but we can't change who we really are."

—Washington Independent Review

“Boomer1's humour is matched by its meditation on character circumstance, and ultimately the incredible consequences of Mark's actions.” —The Sun (Scotland)

“In this inventive, hilarious, and audacious book, Daniel Torday elucidates the deep ironies and ambivalences embedded in how we live now. His ability to play with various cultural cross currents (from smug foodie culture to dark web chat rooms to macroeconomics to bluegrass) is truly impressive and captivating. Torday carefully traces out the complex origins of his characters’ ideologies. He shows us their blind spots and vanities even as he makes the intricate case for their arguments. And always he reveals their very human longing for an identity and a place in the world.”

“BOOMER1 channels the riotous insecurity and injustice of our contemporary America into a frightening, hilarious, and all-too-plausible societal bildungsroman: a generational war goes viral, with very real consequences. Torday writes exquisitely about our hallucinatory simultaneous realities, where lives are conducted onscreen and offline, networked to millions of strangers and tremendously alone. Edgy and humane, this novel is live music for our screened-off world.”

-- Karen Russell, Swamplandia!

"Daniel Torday is a singular American writer with a big heart and a real love for the world. He has the rare gift for writing dynamic action scenes while being genuinely funny."

-- George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

"BOOMER1 is a dazzling new novel, from one of America's premierwriters."

-- Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master's Son

"Boomer1 is a doozy--a prescient, cathartic love letter to Gen X, a fond call to arms for Millennials, Daniel Torday has written this generational cusp with wisdom, style and sincerity."

--Claire Vaye Watkins, Gold Fame Citrus

PRAISE FORDANIEL TORDAY

"Torday’s ability to shift gears between sweeping historical vistas and more intimate family dramas, and between old-school theatrics and more contemporary meditations on the nature of storytelling, announces his emergence as a writer deserving of attention." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Poxl West is rendered in Torday's unobtrusively lyrical prose, superb Rothian sentences that glide over the page as smoothly as a Spitfire across a cloudless sky…an utterly accomplished novel. Daniel Torday is a writer, one with real talent and heart.” --Teddy Wayne, The New York Times Book Review (cover review)